


from dust

by rathma



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Abuse, Blood, Canon-Typical Violence, Don’t copy to another site, M/M, Minor Injuries, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, forgive my tags, post-commander lilith DLC, uhh idk how else to cover it. a lot of bad stuff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-28
Updated: 2019-07-31
Packaged: 2020-05-28 12:05:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19393777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rathma/pseuds/rathma
Summary: vaughn doesn't have a clan, maya's got her own matters to attend to but krieg can't come along. the problem practically solves itself





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i guess this is kind of a pre-sequel to uploading!
> 
> this was written on mobile so if theres any glaring typos ill comb through and try to catch them slowly ahaha. for the most part though i think its comprehensible!!
> 
> anyways, enjoy!

Vaughn had panicked when the others had talked about leaving the Backburner. Sure, the gun-crazed one who matched Vaughn in a distinct lack of height– and therefore had his eternal friendship– had cleaned up the place well enough very nearly on his own, but it was Pandora. He still sometimes woke up in a cold sweat whenever he tried to sleep, dreams of rakk turning him into a much shorter Prometheus. He blamed Rhys and that tiny screeching nightmare of a drone he'd had.

Being left to Pandora by himself wasn't something he could do, especially since Lilith had looked grim at the state of the Crimson Raiders—or whatever was left of them.

Rebuilding his bandit clan was imperative once the others took their leave but where to even start was completely lost on him. Recruitment had gone poorly when stacked against the group of vault hunters sent to gather them in the first place, but they had their own goals which did not include making the greatest clan on Pandora. He'd asked.

"Well, what you're gonna wanna do is take yourself to the latest hive of some no-brain bastards, drop a couple of 'em to establish dominance n' shit and they'll fall in line." Was Ellie's suggestion. It was solid apart from Vaughn's lack of courage that could withstand being shot at.

"Ellie's right. Get a nice rifle and pick the real dumb ones off. If that doesn't work, mow 'em all down." Axton had agreed, nursing a cool beer at Moxxi's when Vaughn asked him for advice. "A win-win scenario honestly. Either you get your gang or you clean up the competition and can use that in your pitch to the next group." He'd shot Vaughn a quick wink and finger gun and he turned back to his drink.

Vaughn sat on his dingy mattress and after shaking most of the sand out of his clothes and hair from the day, he contemplated his options.

Violence, quick and easy as it was, was the obvious choice but unless he could figure out how to become an actual bandit killing badass in a couple days, it wasn't exactly something he could dish out. Not like the girl with the robot that tore through New Pandoran forces like they were nothing. She'd declined his offer too.

Money spoke just as loudly but he wouldn't have enough to buy a whole clan, much less keep them after. The idea of being simply shot, his body looted and left to become bleached bones in the desert was none too appealing either.

"Okay, what would Rhys do? " he said out loud, falling back on the bed and stared up the ceiling. The hole he'd patched the week before was back and he frowned. "Befriend the coolest vault hunter, get off this planet, and start a new company is what." Vaughn sighed. Brainstorming was already a bust.

There were the thoughts he tried to ignore for the most part at the forefront of his mind now, bitter and leaving him maudlin. 

He rolled over and adjusted the tattered rags he used as a pillow and a few minutes later, he was asleep.

———

The sound of voices woke him later, one a harsh whisper and the other the actual culprit which pulled him from sleep.

They were distant but rapidly approaching the shack Vaughn noticed and his mouth was uncomfortably dry but he froze, trying to pick out what the two were saying.

The one trying to be respectful he didn't recognize immediately but a few seconds of listening in and he could assume it was the other siren that had come along with the other vault hunters, Maya. The much louder voice he couldn't place at all was raving about something Vaughn couldn't begin to understand. He caught something about a train in there.

The door swung open from a heavy boot kicking— and subsequently denting— it and Vaughn shrieked.

"What, what do you want, I have literally nothing!" he wailed, covering his head with his arms.

"Krieg! I told you, you can't just burst in like that! I'm really sorry." Maya said and took a step forward. 

Vaughn peeked out, and fell back onto the bed, hands clenching his shirt in a white-knuckle grip.

"Don't- don't do that ever again. My heart hurts. I think it stopped?" he wheezed. A moment passed as he collected himself and he sat back up to squint at Maya's apologetic face and her companion. He pushed his Spex up to rub his bleary eyes and blunk the dust from them as the two finally came into focus.

"I'm sorry, and so is Krieg." Maya nudged the much taller man beside her who despite his size and mask managed to look somewhat sheepish. On anyone else, it might've been something along the lines of endearing, but on the psycho–there was no doubt that's what he was– it was a little awkward. Vaughn stared openly.

"He gets a little," Maya gestured vaguely as she struggled to find the word. "overzealous."

"Yeah, psychos'll do that." Vaughn muttered and hauled himself up off the floor. "Did you guys need something, 'cause I'm pretty busy. Got a whole bandit clan to rebuild."

Maya snorted and Vaughn frowned.

"Oh I'm sure you are, Mr. Bandit King. Listen, Krieg isn't some run-of-the-mill thug. He's a vault hunter like the rest of us. Kinda. He's…" Maya paused, her expression becoming solemn as she turned to look at Krieg who tensed up beside her. 

Vaughn narrowed his eyes as there seemed to be a whole conversation between the two without words. He'd run into enough bandits to doubt when one was posited as something other than a bloodthirsty maniac but he trusted Maya's judgement. She'd been part of the group who helped him and the others after all.

"He wasn't always like this. Hyperion, Handsome Jack-" Krieg grumbled something under his breath and began to pace at the mention of the late CEO, reminding Vaughn of the caged creatures on Helios that had been experimented on. None of them carried a buzz axe caked in dried blood though. "He did something to him, we don't know what. It involved a lot of slag though and it made him a hell of fighter but he's not whoever he was before. That doesn't mean he's just some idiot we picked up though."

Vaughn swallowed thickly, the weight of the memory of his own career at Hyperion settling in. He trusted Maya but with Krieg he felt twinges of fear creeping up his spine. He met the man's lone eye and resisted shivering.

The last time he'd encountered someone wronged so deeply by a company, Fiona had stepped in and talked Athena down to spare Cassius. There was no Fiona here though, and no Rhys who could've talked him out of this either. Vaughn still had branded items from Hyperion in his home he'd made in the bones of Krieg's former cage and now Maya had delivered him unto Vaughn to exact revenge for working there knowing what Hyperion did. He felt his knees begin to give but his mouth couldn't form the words to plead for his life.

"The point is, I've got business off planet that doesn't require anyone to die, probably, and I don't want to just leave Krieg to Pandora. You need to rebuild? Vaughn, say hello to your answer." Maya grinned and patted Krieg's shoulder which stilled his slow pacing. 

Vaughn narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth to speak.

"They all die screaming!" Krieg interrupted, his grip on his buzz axe tightening.

"I- what?" Vaughn looked from Krieg to Maya and back to Krieg again. He was tall. Taller than Rhys even and Vaughn already had to make sure he stood just far enough back when talking to him just to make sure his neck wouldn't get sore craning up. Krieg would've put Rhys in the same position. From there though, he was nigh indistinguishable from any other psycho and Vaughn was doubtful.

Maya rolled her eyes.

"I'm going to Athenas and Krieg can't come with. He just can't not be all, you know," She pantomimed swinging an axe. "for long. You need someone to help you build your clan back up, take out the other guys out here? Here he is. He won't hurt anyone who doesn't deserve it," Maya narrowed her eyes at Vaughn who shuffled and looked away under her scrutiny. "but he has no qualms with bandits. There's no one better for the job."

Vaughn raised a finger and took a breath, ready to argue but the painful quiet of the camp stopped him. He had no one, no fallback. Maybe he should've tried harder to recruit the other vault hunters.

"I uh, I know I said all that stuff about you vault hunters and me sharing an enemy in Hector and all but are you really sure he's not gonna decide it's time for skin pizza once you've left?" Vaughn asked, his voice cracking with fear as he laid out just one of the many deaths he was imagining for himself from this.

Maya raised a brow and Vaughn looked away again. Something about her lack of patience for his frankly very reasonable concerns made him feel like a child being scolded for believing there were monsters under the bed. The difference here was his fears were completely valid.

"Unless you decide to really lean into this bandit thing and start killing innocent people and not just other idiots on this planet, you'll be fine." Maya stepped forward and rested a hand on Vaughn's shoulder.

"I know he looks scary, and sometimes he's going to straight up run into things screaming about blood fondues, but he hasn't hurt or let us down yet. He saved me when we first met in fact. If you've got your priorities right, he'll be just as good to you."

Vaughn sighed and nodded. There was no convincing Maya of just how bad an idea this was.

"I guess. I gotta know though," Vaughn tilted his head and considered Krieg once more. The man seemed to have nothing on his person that wasn't for combat or his psycho attire and yet he'd helped put down someone like Handsome Jack. There was no denying that it was impressive. "Why doesn't he just go with the others and hunt vaults again if he can't go with you?"

Maya turned to leave, stopping just before the door.

"Why don't you ask him yourself?"

With that, she was gone and Vaughn was left alone with Krieg.

There was nothing and no one separating them now. No one to keep Krieg from a rage at the mere idea of Hyperion that Vaughn could very well represent to him.

He bit his lip and fidgeted. There was nothing left to do but try since he wasn't going to get rid of him.

"Ssso, you're a vault hunter, huh?" Vaughn tried.

Krieg only grunted in response, his lone eye trained on Vaughn.

"I mean, that's pretty dangerous, right? I'm not bragging or anything but I helped open a vault once too. It could teleport and we had this big robot— it's no big deal. Totally raided a secret Atlas base but also no big deal. Took down Vallory-" Vaughn was rambling. "God, I'm rambling. Okayokayokay." he took a deep breath and collected himself. "No offence but what does a psycho want with a vault in the first place? I thought you guys were all about setting yourselves on fire and stuff."

Krieg waited a moment and Vaughn shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He couldn't possibly run if he'd offended him, and even if he tried, the guy would catch him in seconds. Even if Vaughn wasn't slightly below average in height for a guy his age according to information that had to be outdated by now, Krieg was huge. The guy was incredibly menacing just through existing and it was hard to adjust to.

Krieg loomed over Vaughn and tilted his head.

"I want to kill the screams in my skull with the screams behind his face." he said simply.

Vaughn grimaced but he could glean what that meant since Maya had explained somewhat.

"So not vaults but like wreaking cold-blooded vengeance, huh?" He raised a brow and put a hand on his hip. "I like it! Guess since he's dead, there's no reason to keep hunting them then."

Krieg chuckled softly, a deep and gutteral sound that was a little off-putting. The shiver made it down Vaughn's spine this time.

"Handsome Jack was a total dick, I'm-" Maya's words played in his head again. Even if Jack was gone, Krieg was still affected. He could potentially stay like that forever. "I'm glad you got to take him out. I never could've."

Vaughn couldn't quite tell but the slight change in Krieg's eye was likely from a smile. Probably. He wouldn't be the one to ask.

"Well, I guess I gotta get you settled!" Vaughn announced and clapped his hands together. "You, my friend, are the first actually permanent member that isn't me of, wait for it, The Vaughnguard!"

Vaughn smiled up at Krieg who appeared to be listening.

"Literally everyone else kiiiinda died when Hector and his murder-shrubs showed up or is gonna ditch Pandora to hunt vaults or whatever, so we've got a lot of work to do. You know the bandit code?"

Krieg narrowed his eye. Probably a no.

"Right, okay. Well, we can skip most of it, this is gonna be more freeform but oh man, you gotta take the oath! There's a skag heart and a blood pact- you'll love it. After we can just eat the thing! Like a two-man afterparty!"

Vaughn paced as he spoke, all eager energy and thoughts racing in his mind. Krieg had stayed perfectly, probably, attentive and hadn't protested yet which was already leaps and bounds ahead of where he'd expected this to go.

"Right! So, skag heart. You and me. We're gonna go hunt down a real badass looking one, rip it up and- you know what you'll see. It's gonna be great! Come on, there's no time like the present!"

Vaughn moved to open the door, a lot more excitement in his system than fear now at the prospect of finally rebuilding— with a vault hunter no less.

The two trekked to the large gate of the Backburner quickly with Vaughn rattling off ideas until they reached it.

"Anyways, I'm sure with some careful consideration and you know, guns," Krieg adjusted his grip on his rifle. "we can really make something here!"

They crossed the threshold out of the camp proper and Vaughn slowed his pace. 

"So I'm coming with you but like, you for sure gotta keep me alive, okay? I know you vault hunter types like to 'have tasks assigned' and 'complete them for monetary rewards' but this is serious, okay? There's no one else to initiate you and that part is imperative." Vaughn looked ahead and behind them and once he was sure they were alone, he stepped closer.

"I got my Hyperion Redbar X-2000s on." He flashed a peek of the waistband. "This could not be more significant."

Vaughn met Krieg's gaze in silence. There was the slightest glance down at Vaughn's hips before he was narrow eyed and nodding once.

"Alright, this guy gets it!" Vaughn clapped Krieg on the back and his smile was back.

The two made it out to the enclosed turret protected space just before they were in the Dahl Abandon proper and Vaughn froze.

"There's a ton of other bandits out here too and, not to say I lack faith in your ability to eviscerate, maim, or otherwise totally destroy them, but if we could avoid them if possible and just find a den, that'd be really awesome." Vaughn said, poking his head passed the dilapidated cars that served as a barrier to squint at the open desert.

"They come, they die, I feast on their souls. When the meat circus cometh, I'M GOING TO BE FIRST IN LINE!" Krieg announced none too quietly and pushed his way passed Vaughn, already making his way to the Catch-A-Ride.

Vaughn pursed his lips and tried to decipher what that meant. He hoped it was reassurance that Krieg would only kill whoever approached them first but then again, he could've just been stating that he was hungry.

Vaughn was quickly falling behind. He jogged to catch up and opted to walk in Krieg's shadow. He could appreciate the man's size a lot more since it meant in this instance he wouldn't be sweating in the heat directly.

It was a short walk to the Catch-A-Ride and thankfully, there weren't any roving groups in technicals to dodge gunfire from. The relief was twofold after Vaughn realized he hadn't grabbed a shield before leaving.

The whole situation had rattled him more than he'd anticipated.

He let Krieg poke away at the terminal and stood back as the outrunner digistructed.

"Ooh, dibs on the gun!" Vaughn announced and was already scrambling to climb the vehicle. 

"Man, I'm thinking this more hands-on style of bandit lording is the way to go! I almost never get to ride in these things." He took hold of the gun and swiveled a bit to adjust. The thing had only creaked slightly in protest to the movement but was otherwise fine.

Krieg hopped into the driver's seat and within moments they were off. 

It was always exhilarating in a way to be out in a runner. Most of the others from Helios couldn't really drive and frankly, neither could Vaughn, but the freedom of nothing but open sand and the ability to go as fast as they wanted had grown on him. It was adjacent to when he and Rhys had ridden together in Vasquez's stolen car but being like this in a gunner seat was way better. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the wind in his hair a moment, appreciating how Krieg's driving was already much smoother ride. As smooth as it got in a junky vehicle over sand anyways.

"Hey so there's some dens just a little west of here!" Vaughn shouted over the wind and roar of the engine, leaning forward to look down at Krieg. "Just hug the cliff and we should find some pretty quick!" 

Krieg said nothing but he did adjust their course to be closer to the cliff face as Vaughn had instructed. If Vaughn had been keeping track, that would've been a point for keeping Krieg around.

The ride had blessedly short and uneventful when Vaughn spotted the first carved out hole in the side and shouted it out to Krieg.

Krieg slowed the runner still far smoother than Vaughn, whose shoulders were already tensed and braced for a jolting stop, was used to and left it parked a good distance from the den. Not leaving their ride open to being swarmed by skags was a lot more forethought that Vaughn had expected.

Vaughn relaxed somewhat but he could already feel his heart pick up in anticipation. A bead of sweat ran down his neck as telltale growls heralded the appearance of a skag. It was when he noticed the deep green hue to it's emerging body that anticipation gave way to fear.

"Oh no, not a spitter. Quick, kill it before-" 

The creature roared, its mouth splitting wide and widened its stance to brace itself. Krieg was already unstrapping his rifle and racing toward the skag which hacked loudly and dug its claws into the sand.

A wad of viscous acid was spat just as Krieg opened fire directly into its gaping maw.

Vaughn shrieked and ducked low into the gunner seat, never more grateful for his size than now. The acid connected with the side of the runner and he could hear it begin to eat at the metal almost instantly.

"Oh, why a spitter?! This sucks, this double sucks, this is hands down THE suckiest thing!" Vaughn wailed with his hands covering his head and his eyes squeezed shut.

There were more roars as other skags emerged and the loud sounds great of bullets meeting rough skag hide as Krieg began to fight, answering their fury with his own.

"I TOLD YOU WHAT WOULD HAPPEN!"

Vaughn chanced a peek out of the runner at the sickening crunches he heard amidst the whir of Krieg's buzz axe taking the place of gunfire.

The man had put away his rifle and was surrounded by three skags; one an alpha and the other two fully grown but not quite as large. The bodies of two smaller ones along with the one that had spat on the runner were slumped over in the dirt. Only one of them wasn't riddled with bullet holes.

Vaughn's wide eyed gaze was back on Krieg who was panting and gripped his axe tightly. There were claw marks running down his side, just deep enough to have a constant flow of blood run but he didn't seem to be bothered.

One of the skags roared and Krieg roared back, taking off toward it. The bout was short, Krieg driving the whirring blades of his axe straight into the skags mouth and sending a fine spray of blood and viscera onto himself and into the air.

Vaughn's mouth fell open.

The second skag sprinted over with it's teeth flashing before Krieg had finished tossing it's partner aside. He raised his arms, the one with makeshift armour taking the brunt of the bite, and they both fell to the ground.

Vaughn started as he saw the alpha begin to stalk toward the two, his hands flying to the runner's gun. He turned to aim at it and opened fire.

The tough hide of the alpha withstood the gunfire but it was enough. It had stumbled back and roared at Vaughn now.

Vaughn smiled triumphantly but it was as gone as quickly as it appeared as the alpha was stalking toward him now.

"Uh, Krieg?" He called over, his eyes darting to glance at the fight nearby. 

Krieg managed to shove the skag off of him and get it on it's side with his boot keeping its mouth shut in the dirt as he readied his axe. He was poised to tear at the soft flesh of its belly when he heard his name. He turned to look at Vaughn who was still laying into the alpha which was getting closer to the runner now.

He considered the situation for a moment as he saw the alpha skag begin to brace itself to leap.

Vaughn screamed, his hands flying off the guns triggers to cover his face when he heard the skag jump.

There was a wet crunch and a loud thud as something rocked the runner. Vaughn was nearly knocked to the floor of the gunner seat as the runner tilted back then righted itself again.

A few more gunshots and the dying wail of a skag later, it was over.

Vaughn was hyperventilating and he was seeing spots his eyes were shut so tightly but he probably wasn't dead. Maybe it had been quick and painless.

He lowered his shaking arms to see what had come to pass.

There was a spray of blood on him, which had him panicking for a moment and patting himself down to find the wound until he saw the buzz axe embedded deep in the alpha skags spine. 

"H-holy crap.." He looked back to where Krieg had been and there he was, his rifle in his hands and the final skags blood leaving a dark circle in the sand.

Vaughn could hardly believe it.

"That," he began, clumsily climbing out of the runner. He used the alpha skags body as a step to stumble onto the ground, his legs shaking. "was the most terrifying thing I've done in a long time." 

Vaughn kicked the side of the alpha as his body rode out the last of the adrenaline in his system. The creature didn't move, just as it hadn't when he was climbing it. 

Vaughn braced one boot on it's hide and grasped the handle of the axe and pulled. It took a few tries but eventually the weapon came out with a wet sound that would've turned Vaughn's stomach any other time, and he approached Krieg on wobbly legs.

"You are a freakin' badass, hell yeah!" Vaughn cheered and held out the axe. Krieg took it and watched Vaughn who paced while chattering excitedly.

"Man, I thought for sure we were gonna die once more than one came out of the den! Like a spitter was bad enough. We can't even eat 'em 'cause the meat'll melt your teeth clean out of your skull, but five others? And an alpha?! Maya was right, you're awesome, that was amazing! God, I feel like I could level Mount Scarab right now I'm so pumped! Or maybe that's all the adrenaline but still, I haven't felt this alive in so long!"

Vaughn paused and looked back up at Krieg who was surprisingly still despite the blood and the still bleeding claw marks.

"How did you even manage all this? Like I was there and I still can't believe it." Vaughn knew he was definitely gushing now but how he'd felt terrified for his life over an hour ago because of the guy to being saved by him single-handedly had pushed any shame about it aside.

"There's no barbecue 'til I say there's a barbecue." Krieg replied, shaking some of the blood off his axe.

Vaughn blinked.

"I- you know what? Okay, whatever you say, man. That," He patted Krieg's chest. "was awesome and the Vaughnguard is gonna be awesome thanks to you."

Vaughn froze when his hand came back red and his mind slowed enough to remind itself Krieg was injured.

"Oh crap. Are you okay? Ohh, that looks really bad." Vaughn winced as he got a closer look at the gashes in Krieg's side. The flow of blood wasn't anything too fast but it was enough to worry him. 

"I'll eat the pain." Krieg rumbled, looking down at his side.

"No, no, you gotta get fixed up! We still have to initiate you and do the oath! Just hang out here a sec." Vaughn rushed back to the runner and leaned over the side to pop open the glove compartment. He rummaged through the junk inside until he felt his fingers brush cool glass. He grabbed the needle and returned to Krieg.

"Feel good needles!" Krieg chirped.

Vaughn nodded and readied the device.

"Yep. I don't think it's gonna save you from scars but hey, beats dying." He paused to look at the already plentiful scars marring Krieg's flesh. He could only hope they came from Pandora and not Helios.

Vaughn took a shaky breath and pushed the needle in just above the top gash. He watched Krieg who only shuddered as the needle sunk in and Vaughn squeezed the trigger, a low hiss indicating it worked as the liquid was dispersed in an instant.

The flow of blood stopped almost instantly and Vaughn's shoulders slumped in relief that he'd done it right.

"Okay, I have to kind of pinch the cuts together so just hang on for another second." Vaughn warned and moved to do so.

He could practically feel Krieg's eye on him as he focused on trying to keep the sides of each cut touching so the needle could do its work.

"I don't usually do this so if it heals kind of funny, I warned you." Vaughn chuckled weakly, chancing a glance upward.

Krieg was in fact watching him, his eye boring into Vaughn's. Being under such an intense look, as if Krieg could see into his mind, made the fact that he had his hands on the other more acute in his mind. There was a distinct creep of warmth up his neck and on the tips of his ears and he ducked his head to hide it. The sand next to their boots was fascinating enough to toe at.

"So uh, skag hearts! You ever eat one before?" Vauhhn asked, still not looking at Krieg.

"Yeah, you can just eat them raw. It's a little rough but you acquire a taste for them surprisingly fast." He squinted at the three lines and slowly removed his hands. A beat passed and they hadn't torn back open from the steady rhythm of Krieg's breathing moving his ribs just above the damage.

"Okay, looks like you're set!" Vaughn announced and was immediately pulled into a tight one-armed hug, his side crushed into the bloodied mess of Krieg's.

"NIPPLE SALADS!" 

Vaughn wheezed, weakly swatting at Krieg's chest.

"You're welcome now please let go!" he managed. With that he was released and he sucked in a rattling breath.

"If we're done bleeding here," Vaughn gave Krieg a once over and thankfully didn't see any other cuts. "it's time we cut one of these bad boys open!"

The pair, mostly Krieg, hauled the alpha skag's body away from the runner and closer to the others.

Vaughn inspected the skag's body by running his hand along it's underside, prodding in search of something.

"This can get pretty messy if you don't know where the heart is exactly but lucky for you, I've done my fair share of harvesting them so it shouldn't be too hard." Vaughn explained.

The entire affair was still bloody due to the use of Krieg's buzz axe in lieu of an actual knife but soon they were seated in the sand, Krieg grasping the heart while Vaughn recited the bandit oath. What he remembered of it anyways.

Krieg's responses weren't exactly him repeating after Vaughn anyway but there was only the two of them. No one would get on their case for making it up.

"I mean it's more symbolic than anything, right? Being a roving force of nature, it's something you feel, not something someone tells you you are because you could copy them." Vaughn said, wiping the rest of the skag blood off on his pants once he was through. They'd opted to skip eating it this time as well.

"This though- ouch!" He pricked his finger on a tooth of the smaller saw of the buzz axe Krieg held out between them. "Blood pacts are binding. You and me, man."

Vaughn motioned for Krieg to do the same, who did and drew far more blood with the deep cut he gave his own finger, the stream running down his partially wrapped palm.

"Bandit bros for life." Vaughn declared, smearing his own blood on his still tacky palm and grasped Krieg's. He balked a little when his hand practically disappeared when Krieg's hand wrapped around his.

"We ride eternal, bloody and chrome!" Krieg followed loudly, raising their arms and hauling Vaughn off the ground.

"Man, I wish Rhys was here for this!" Vaughn mused out loud on the way back to the runner.

"He's my best bro, in a different non-blood pact-y way, and he left Pandora already. Gonna rebuild Atlas from basically nothing apparently. Didn't want to give up on his goals even after literally crashing his old job into a planet." Vaughn explained as he climbed into the gunner seat again.

Krieg tossed the body of one of the smaller skags in the front seat then squeezed in himself.

"Yeah, he asked me to come along and I almost did but I already had something here, you know? There was a lot of us before Hector, and they needed me. I won't tell you how many just the skags got but it was a lot. Man…" Vaughn sighed, slumping into his seat as the runner rumbled to life and they pulled away and were headed back.

The ride back was just as peaceful as the one there, the only disruption Krieg's whoops when he sped up and got air from a dune.

They left the runner outside the turret nest and Vaughn trailed after Krieg who had the skag slung over one shoulder.

It was still light out but looking around, Vaughn could see most had turned in. It was times like these he missed the artificial but consistent day/night cycles on Helios.

Moxxi was still at her temporary bar, wiping down the makeshift counter as Hammerlock was perched on a stool chatting with her excitedly about something Vaughn couldn't quite make out.

"What-ho, gentlemen! What a fine catch, well done on the hunt!" 

Vaughn waved at Hammerlock. "Hey, Hammerlock! Yeah, we're gonna cook this guy up later so swing by if you want some!" He offered before realizing Krieg had kept going. He jogged to catch up, eager to make sure the skag's body wasn't dropped in his bed.

They were back in Vaughn's shack not long after a quick wipedown with wet rags Moxxi had kindly given them upon seeing the bloodied messes they'd made of themselves.

"I appreciate it, sugar, but I don't like to leave a partner messy after we're through." She'd said with a wink when Vaughn came back over and offered her some of the kill to sell.

Krieg was glancing about and taking in the moderate decorating Vaughn had attempted while Vaughn himself fished through a chest pushed away at the back for a blanket.

"Once I get this, we can go find you a place to sleep. Seeing as how it's basically just us here, you got the pick of the lot! Lucky you." Vaughn stood back up with a tattered Hyperion print blanket in hand which he held out to Krieg.

There was a moment where Krieg considered the blanket before grasping Vaughn's forearm a hauling him close. He stooped to press his masked forehead to Vaughns for a brief moment then lumbered off, shutting the door behind him gently, leaving Vaughn frozen and wide-eyed.

"Uh, g-goodnight? I-" Vaughn shook his head, moving to settle down in his own bed.

He didn't know what to make of what had transpired just now in those brief seconds, and he thought of Rhys who definitely would.

Perhaps in their next excursion he would find a way to contact him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> krieg doesnt know how to adjust but hey, he's trying

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i didnt think there'd be a second chapter but i, a fool, wanted to try smth from kriegs POV. plus the idea's still interesting to me but i gotta get it out before bl3 so here we be
> 
> again, written on mobile so bear with typos or any weirdness i mightve missed. i'll try to come back and catch them later! •́ ‿ ,•̀

There was little about the situation at the Backburner that Krieg was comfortable with.

He'd spent time with the other vault hunters, sure, but they never stayed anywhere for long. There was always somewhere to be, Hyperion property to destroy— it had been ideal.

When Handsome Jack had finally gone down, blood bubbling from his lips as he strained trying to catch his breath before Krieg put him out of Pandora's misery, there was nothing inside. 

Krieg had torn the mask from the man's face and destroyed it in a fit of anger. All of him agreed it was the only thing to do and the others had let him. He'd laughed loudly and without restraint when Lilith had burned the tiny little pieces after. When the wind carried the ashes off and the others left, vault key in tow, he stayed behind.

Handsome Jack was gone, and yet Krieg's mind still raged. Even the part of him that tried to play at being non-violent boiled over with anger, hatred, and a myriad of other emotions the now dead man before him had robbed him of the ability to name.

" _It's not fair_." The quieter part of him had said. Krieg paced, hands on his head as he tried to figure out what could ease the ache in his skull.

" _He's dead and we're still-_ " He sunk to the ground and wept unknowingly while his fists pounded the ground until his knuckles were bruised and bleeding. No part of him cared to stop the other.

Krieg had disappeared after, not bothering to return to Sanctuary to rejoin the others.

Maya tried to keep in contact every few weeks and it helped to hear her concerns for his well-being.

The last time anyone had cared if he was dying or not had been up on Helios when they were pumping him full of slag and trying to pry his eyes open to see if it affected his vision. He almost missed the look of pity on the doctor's face when she'd caved to mercy and sedated him so he couldn't claw at himself in a desperate bid to get it out. Like he could bleed enough to stop the pain. Jack had killed her when she refused to keep Krieg awake for a procedure.

Maya never expected a response from him in her periodic messages but she still sent them just the same. She'd accurately guessed that the thinned out bandit populace near smaller settlements was his handiwork and told him drinks were on her when he chose to come back.

When Helios fell from the sky in a fiery streak of reds and yellows careening to the ground, Krieg had been watching without blinking. He couldn't believe it. He listened carefully to the messages Maya and the others had sent to his ECHO device not long after. Gaige's excitement and joy had been infectious and Krieg smiled that day. He still didn't return. Maya kept him up to speed as best she could anyways.

"Zer0's made a friend who says he's going to rebuild Atlas." she said some time after Helios fell, with a hint of laughter in her voice. "I don't think he'll be staying here much longer, they've gotten pretty close. He said 'Rebuilding Atlas/ A challenge on all levels/ Goodbye, Pandora.' so I think he meant it." Krieg's lips twitched at the impression of the assassin. "If you want, you should drop by Sanctuary and say goodbye with us!" The message ended.

Krieg shook his head, muttering about the abyss and skinny, red-eyed creatures slipping away into a current when he couldn't swim. He continued to roam instead and his quieter half lamented the choice but the cacophony in their head after the Warrior was endless and being out here helped.

When Maya's latest message came, he was far from Sanctuary. She was panicked and talking about how she was getting ready to return to Athenas when Sanctuary had been invaded. There was gunfire and the message ended.

" _We should be there helping_!" Came the urgent insistence. There were no objections when Krieg had digistructed a runner and was headed back.

He'd arrived too late and Sanctuary was gone. Axton had been the one to meet up with him and explained everything as best he could. He'd looked personally guilty when he explained it was another case of Dahl abandoning people.

Maya, Salvador, and Gaige were there not long after and the group sans Zer0,w had already left for Promethea, was together again for a short time.

Maya had decided she still needed to leave for Athenas that same day.

"This is important, I have to know what they know." she'd said, her brows furrowed.

Krieg had then quickly been told he couldn't come along.

"I like you, we all do, but Athenas..." Maya pressed her lips into a thin line. "I stirred up enough trouble just leaving, I need them to cooperate with me so you can't come along." She had been apologetic and while Krieg had been upset, both parts of him understood. Wanton killing wasn't what she needed for this trip but he did. He always did.

It wasn't long after that she introduced him— after he'd taken off to find him first— to the small man living in what was left of Helios.

It had been an awkward back and forth between them, Maya vouching for him as best as she could, and the other man, Vaughn, looking terrified at best. It was a bad feeling, seeing another person so scared of him that wasn't a bandit, and there were attempts to assuage Vaughn's fears.

He'd called him a psycho at first but quickly settled on Krieg instead, just like everyone else and the loathing, self and otherwise, abated somewhat.

The meeting worked out and their day– or what passed for one on Pandora– ended with a bout with skags, Vaughn nursing gashes Krieg was normally content to let bleed out of habit, and a too small mattress he was currently seated on.

Krieg alternated between clenching and unclenching his hands, anxiety creeping in. He couldn't remember the last time he had a bed to sleep in, let alone a place to call home. Four walls and a roof over his head had only ever meant 'cage' to him for far too long.

" _I don't know why you thought I was going to let you attack him_ ." His soft voice had said and Krieg grumbled in annoyance. " _This is a good thing here, we're helping again_." He flopped down on his side onto the mattress and pulled the too-small blanket over his shoulder.

" _You can't just headbutt things you don't like or understand._ " Krieg curled in on himself, mouthing demands to shut up to himself and closing his eyes.

" _I mean it, we don't deserve kindness but this is ideal since you can't relax enough to stay with Maya_." Krieg shook his head and clenched his eyes tighter.

The conversation was over and finally he fell into something akin to sleep. 

\----

It hadn't been much later when Krieg was forced awake, panting and wild-eyed. Phantom needles pricked his skin and his nerves remembered what it was like scream before the vestiges of his nightmare slipped away.

It was always like this. When his body wouldn't be able to take being awake anymore, memories of conversations about him he couldn't make quite out and an almost ethereal purple glow would slip back in. Then came the bright overhead lights, the now familiar soft voice of the first doctor assigned to watch over him trying to calm him as best as she could, and anything rational in him that could've tried to plead for it to stop drowned out by the now far stronger part that wanted to tear the voice apart, tear himself apart– anything to get rid of whatever invisible spurs were digging in all over and had him cracking a tooth when his jaw had been clenched too hard for too long.

It was hurt and anger that were old hat by now and he could sleep through it. It was when he got flashes of scuffed sneakers, hair that was carefully styled to look like it was tousled and that voice– all condescension and impatience that Krieg wasn't progressing fast enough, and that maybe you people were too soft on him, and don't they know what he had to deal with to become CEO– that was when Krieg couldn't stay asleep anymore.

He always woke ready to fight, to kill the fading memory in his head.

It was just him though, hunched on a mattress in Helios' remains, a newly minted member of a clan made by someone who used to work for Hyperion.

Handsome Jack was already dead.

" _Funny how this stuff works out._ " His mind offered and it was the bland comment that allowed his shoulders to relax.

“ _Get up, we need to make ourselves useful. If Vaughn isn't awake then we need to look around, make sure it's safe_." Krieg grumbled to himself and kicked the blanket away. He gathered up his rifle and buzz axe and left the shack. The relatively fresh air of outside was better than being holed up with his memories.

The other vault hunters were up along with Vaughn who immediately perked up and waved him over.

"Hey, Krieg! Just in time, I was just telling these guys about how you handled those skags. Axton," Vaughn side-eyed the commando who looked back at him with a brow raised. "says it's just normal stuff and not to get so excited but man, what does he know. Were you there? Did you see Krieg rip those skags up? Because it was as equally disgusting as it was awesome, okay. I nearly threw up when I saw it so use that as a bar for how gross and in turn how awesome it was."

Axton rolled his eyes with a smile and turned back to his drink.

"That's what I thought. Anyways, since you're up and initiated, I figured we could go on a tour of some of the places around here. Scope out our soon-to-be turf, you know? See if we can't dig up some new recruits. Oh, maybe we can check out the damage in Helios-" Vaughn's eyes widened and Krieg frowned behind his mask. He realized what he had just asked.

"I mean, if you want to! No pressure. These guys said it's just a plant dump now-" 

"Because it is." Axton interjected.

"But I mean who knows, maybe there's something we can salvage in there.” Vaughn fidgeted and curled in on himself a little, avoiding looking at Krieg directly. The twist of something at seeing him cower was there again. Krieg’s grip on his axe tightened and Vaughn adjusted his glasses but still avoided looking at Krieg.

The only word he could come up with to describe how he felt being so feared by people who weren't out to kill him was hate. Krieg hated it. There was something else in there, cold and blue and gripping his innards almost painfully, but he lacked the word for it while hate was easily understood.

"Blood crops, it's time to harvest." He said. Internally, he groaned at the poor translation of the suggestion to say it was okay.

" _He won't trust us if you can't say what we mean_." 

Krieg narrowed his eyes, ready to pick a fight with himself as he often would when a remark resulted in him being scolded, but Vaughn's look of relief settled it. The meaning was understood which came as a surprise to his inner voice.

"Alright, great! There's some of that skag all cooked up if you're hungry but other than that whenever you're ready to go, we can head out." Vaughn said and patted Krieg on the arm. Krieg's lips twitched as he noticed Vaughn raise himself on his toes slightly to try and lessen the severe height difference between them.

Krieg lumbered off to the bar where Moxxi flashed him her usual grin that always left Krieg wondering just what she was hiding as he slipped onto a stool.

"The usual, sugar?" she asked. Krieg nodded setting his axe in the dusty bar top.

"Nuh uh, you know the rules, honey. No blood on my bar. You and I both know that axe of yours isn't clean." Moxxi scolded. Krieg mumbled under his breath but acquiesced, removing the weapon.

He perked up at the plate of still warm skag that was placed in front of him. It wasn't quite rare, he'd fought enough about that and the dangers of getting parasites from undercooked Pandoran fare, but it didn't appear to be quite well-done either. It was a happy medium for the warring opinions he held. Happy enough that he wasn't starved at least.

He moved to undo the leather straps of his mask when the familiar feeling of eyes watching him crawled up his spine.

"Always watching, always staring. Tear their eyes out and drink their sight..." he muttered as he scanned around to see who it was.

The others had long since learned to leave him be when he ate. Enough graphic threats and a surprisingly astute observation from Gaige about how he didn't like to be gawked at if he didn't have his mask on fully led to sociable enough meals but Vaughn didn't know about any of that.

Krieg stared down Vaughn who was seated far on the opposite end of the bar and was watching him closely.

Axton broke their line of sight after a moment, choosing to lean on the bar between them with his back to Krieg while he chatted loudly with Salvador.

" _Don't just leave."_

Krieg grit his teeth at the command.

" _He doesn't know, but it's not our whole face. It'll be fine_." Krieg groaned quietly at the idea, his shoulders tensing. 

He wanted to leave, he wanted to yell, and a not-so-small part of him wanted to rid everyone else of their eyes so he could be comfortable and completely barefaced for once but he did none of them.

He reached up and loosened the straps to his mask and as usual, pushed it up to just above the tip of his nose.

He couldn't see like this which left him wishing he'd opted for a different look and his heart picked up at the thought of being watched without knowing; Of being vulnerable, open, easy to capture and tear apart from the inside out and watch him as he burned, just like before.

He ate the skag quickly and ignored the prickle of discomfort all the while.

" _He doesn't know but we need him to trust us." Came_ the reminder and Krieg nodded. He couldn't stand the alternative but he didn't want to return wandering Pandora and squabbling over what targets were okay again.

The meat was just between tender and tough, "Like you, sugar." Moxxi had said the first time she'd cooked for him, and Krieg finished it quickly.

He didn't wait to clean his hands when he immediately resecured his mask and got up, his axe in his grip again. Axton was no longer blocking his view of Vaughn and vice versa, but Vaughn wasn't watching him at all. He was at the far side of the bar laughing at something Salvador said, neither man paying Krieg any attention.

It was a relief but parts of Krieg that weren't so easy to please or understand spoke up. That much smaller and easily ignored part wanted Vaughn to watch him. He knew he didn't like him being frightened, but he didn't want him completely gone either, not really. 

_"He watches us, he stops being afraid. That's what we want, right?"_ Was the explanation but Krieg's stomach still twisted. This time it was something else though. It wasn't cold and to be avoided, it was almost gentle; something good, like when the others had accepted him after Maya's words, but then not like that at all.

Krieg furrowed his brows as a migraine threatened to creep in if he spent any longer simply thinking.

Vaughn finally looked back over and grinned once he saw Krieg was ready.

"Hey, you good to go?" Vaughn asked and Krieg nodded.

"Great! Before we head out we just gotta make a quick stop. Salvador says he's got an extra gun kicking around for me and, not saying you guys don't, but he seems like he has excellent taste in guns. If there's any residual plant freaks then I should probably get one."

"There absolutely are and there's pretty much nothing in there." Axton added loudly and was shot a glare from Vaughn. 

"Hey, don't worry so much."Salvador sauntered over and clapped Vaughn on the shoulder. "You got Krieg with you, you're gonna be just fine. You n' me? We don't gotta duck when he starts killing so it'll be easy." Salvador threw his head back as he laughed while Vaughn managed a half-hearted attempt.

Krieg rolled his eyes. Normally he liked Salvador, the man sharing his love of letting loose and rushing into a fight, but his description of him now wasn't doing Vaughn any good.

"Haha yeah, totally. Anyway, about that gun-" Vaughn said, clearing his throat a little.

"Right, right. Come here, this piece'll make you feel ten feet tall. If someone gives you a hard time about it, then it'll blow 'em away and you can feel eleven feet tall." Salvador said with another laugh and leading the group over to a worse for wear looking metal crate.

"Sanctuary might've got blown to hell, which was pretty awesome to watch, but some of our stuff's still okay. Sucked to gather up after but hey, guns!" Salvador explained as he tried to open the crate. There was a creak of protest but the latch didn't budge.

Krieg tilted his head as Salvador began to curse at the crate in words he understood and then the ones he didn't, as if he could intimidate it into opening.

"You know what-" Salvador shouted. He unstrapped the rifle on his back and took aim at the dented latch. He fired at it, far more than what was needed, and in turn sent Vaughn scrambling to duck and cover in the sand behind Krieg's legs.

Krieg said nothing as Vaughn used his leg to steady himself as he stood back up when the outburst was over and Salvador was yelling back at Gaige who cheered from the bar.

"This," Salvador announced, hopping up to lean into the crate with his legs dangling. "is definitely compensating for something, but no one's gonna be alive to call you out after so who cares."

The man righted himself again and proudly presented a shotgun to Vaughn who took it eagerly.

"Whoa, this is awesome." Vaughn breathed, his eyes wide as he held the gun in one arm and pushed his glasses up with the other to inspect it without broken, dusty lenses in the way.

"It's not Hyperion but a bullet's a bullet, eh?" Salvador said and closed the crate.

"I don't need Hy- forget it, it's fine, it's better than fine. This is gonna be great." Vaughn said, a manic gleam in his eye. Krieg smiled behind his mask.

 _"There's potential here, we can help him."_ Krieg mused and grunted in agreement. That familiar glimmer there, the penchant for violence was a comfort.

"Good! Now I'm gonna go eat before Brick gets back. Guy eats like a thresher." Salvador announced and made his way back to Moxxi's.

"Alright, we're all set! Should probably test this bad boy out but skags and other bandits aren't exactly scarce around here and learning on the go is a thing, right?" Vaughn said, looking a little awkward as he tried to find a comfortable grip on the gun while he held it up experimentally.

Krieg narrowed his eye at the other.

 _"The recoil's going to knock him over if he holds it like that, and his aim-"_ The thought was cut off as Krieg moved over to Vaughn and stooped down beside him.

"Uh, Krieg?" Vaughn tensed up but Krieg pressed on, his arms wrapping around the other to settle his hands over Vaughn's.

"You put their heads in your eyes then you squeeze out the bloody tears." Krieg said lowly, adjusting how Vaughn held the gun up and guiding his finger on the trigger. 

Krieg could feel the tremble in Vaughn's hands but he kept still, waiting for him to follow through and fire at the piece of debris he'd pointed the barrel at. 

It was pragmatic at first but a comfortable train of thought settled in the back of his mind that he could focus on for a moment instead of the fractured and disjointed thoughts that normally ran rampant.

"I um, okay. Squeeze the trigger, that's what you're saying, right? That's a gun thing I heard once." Vaughn said with a slight crack in his voice. He cleared his throat then fired.

Krieg felt Vaughn jostle backward as he clearly wasn't ready for the recoil but he remained holding Vaughn upright and steady.

The shot was a little off the mark he noted when he squinted to inspect the target.

_"Not horrible…"_

Krieg huffed and realigned their aim.

Vaughn fired again. Closer this time and Vaughn stood a little steadier. There was one shot left. Of course Salvador would give him an irregular weapon.

Vaughn fired one last time and it hit the mark; the forehead of a particularly faded and vandalized poster of Handsome Jack still stuck on the destroyed piece of wall.

Krieg released Vaughn and stood back up, watching the other. He didn't particularly want to, he found but _"This isn't what we're here for."_ came the chiding remark and he complied.

"I uh-" Vaughn coughed awkwardly and hid his face as a tinge of red crept up his ears again like the last time they'd been close. "Thanks. I never really used a shotgun so that um." Vaughn gestured between the gun, the debris he'd fired at, and himself. "Yeah. I think I got it though so you ready to go?"

Krieg nodded and let Vaughn lead the way which pointedly avoided Moxxi's and the others there. He turned to spare only the slightest glance over and was grateful when he saw no one getting up. Gaige did wave though.

He followed silently, turning over the events of the last while in his head and tuning out Vaughn's chatter about Helios as they stopped at Marcus' temporary setup to stock up on ammunition.

 _"He talks a lot when he's nervous."_ Was the takeaway there and Krieg pursed his lips.

There wasn't the practiced calm like with Maya; Vaughn rarely seemed to stop and think in peace like she did. It was soothing without being the voice of the woman who sedated him after she'd administered another round of slag.

Listening to him talk wasn't like those thoughts that cut through the haze that demanded red but Krieg liked it just the same. Or that was about as close to describing whatever it was as he could get.

"When we get to Helios," Krieg snapped out of his thoughts and peered down at Vaughn as he was led through the turret nest. "if you want, and again no pressure, we can try and find where you were held, maybe." Vaughn held his hands up defensively. "I know how that sounds but hear me out. Before they you know, died horribly, some of the others found what was left of their old offices and just went wild in there. If Hyperion believed in them, it would've been workplace safety violations out the- Anyway, it's supposedly cathartic or something to kick over your old desk decorations but it's up to you."

Krieg tensed and he grit his teeth.

_"With any luck, it's buried in the sand."_

He considered the proposition silently as they were out in the open now and headed to the Catch-A-Ride.

There was some appeal to seeing his former cage again, if only to do as Vaughn's co-workers had and dismantle it himself if crashing to Pandora hadn't already done the job. There was a swell of anger at the possibility that it very well could still be standing.

It had been built to contain creatures far stronger than Krieg, Handsome Jack insisting he was no better than a skag and that he didn't need a cell with a bed or bars he could've held onto and grounded himself with when the world spun. It was simply four walls that were too close together and left him feeling like the air would run out at any minute, a ceiling with lights that never shut off and often kept him from sleeping, and a cold floor that leeched the heat from his body when he finally slumped over, unable to move anymore. Krieg couldn't recall having ever really damaging it. It was built to last.

 _"That's not a good idea."_ Krieg didn't even try to argue as he felt himself prickle with anger at the memories.

"You think about it and if you want to, you can lead us there. If not? That's totally fine too, don't even worry about it." Vaughn finally spoke again and he looked up at Krieg with a lopsided smile in place.

There were no traces of pity or sadistic pleasure in Krieg's obvious discomfort at the subject as it was quickly dropped and he relaxed somewhat.

The pair were soon off in a freshly digistructed runner, Krieg once again driving and following Vaughn's directions.

The drive was peaceful, any rival bandit gangs seemingly holed up to regroup after Hector's forces and the other vault hunters tore through the area. 

Vaughn pointed out key areas as they drove past but otherwise it was unsettlingly quiet for Pandora.

 _"A void that needs to be filled."_ was the observation and Krieg hummed in agreement, already eager for the inevitable bloodshed when someone would try.

Once they pulled up to the already destroyed gate and hopped out of the runner, Krieg took a moment to take in the scene. 

The area was clearly very firmly established bandit territory but partially covered stains in the sand and the ramshackle gate that was already knocked down that Vaughn led them to spoke of the others having come through and disrupting whatever was previously established.

"So, The Burrows are normally like a bandit rite of passage if you can survive them." Vaughn began and stopped just before the entrance to the cave. "The usual dangers were sand worms and your own aim but after your friends tore through here, I dunno."

Vaughn fidgeted again and gestured forward, a weak grin in place.

"Just in case there's more plant guys though, you want to take point? I totally got your back if you're worried. I just uh, don't want to rob you of any kills if we run into trouble. That bandit king bloodlust, you know how it is." Vaughn said.

Krieg huffed a short laugh but proceeded, taking in his surroundings for any movement as he went and keeping tabs on Vaughn's much lighter footsteps behind him.

It wasn't long before they found themselves in a mass graveyard of what had to be the sand worms Vaughn mentioned.

"Oh, gross. You smell that? Ugh, I thought I was used to all this." Vaughn complained as he moved to grimace a good distance away from the corpses.

Krieg prodded one with the tip of his rifle but there was no movement and he frowned. There was nothing for him to take care of and he was getting anxious.

" _The others did a good job here. We-"_ Krieg tensed as the talk was cut short when tremors ran up his body and the ground shook.

Vaughn froze where he stood as the ground rumbled and swelled then broke a few feet behind him to reveal a sand worm that roared its displeasure at being disturbed.

"Oh no no no, not like this!" Vaughn dove to the side and dodged as the worm snapped at him. 

Krieg readied his rifle and began to fire at the sand worm, the bullets making contact with it's leathery hide but not doing as much as he'd hoped. It was still facing away from him and hissing at Vaughn who scrambled to get a grip of his shotgun while trying to back away.

Krieg continued to fire at it but it's attention never wavered.

Vaughn finally righted his own gun as the sand worm reared back to bite again.

Krieg had his buzz axe in hand and was ready to carve out the worm's back when it lurched forward and time seemed to slow.

His eye was wide as he watched Vaughn take aim and pull the trigger with his eyes shut, and the worm's jaws got closer.

It was over in an instant. The sand worm slammed to the ground with a watery roar as the crack of a shot rang out and Vaughn disappeared beneath it.

 _"Help him!"_ The command was harsh and Krieg was already rushing over.

He wasted no time taking the situation and only focused on the thoughts of 'find, find, find' that ran through his mind. Where Vaughn was before, there was the sand worm's body, a rapidly growing puddle of blood but no sign of anything else.

Krieg growled as he moved to brace his shoulder on the worm's side and dug his boots into the dust to push.

It budged a little when he heard a low groan.

" _He's alive!"_

Krieg grit his teeth and shoved harder and finally the worm was pushed off of Vaughn.

"Am… Am I dead?" Vaughn wheezed. He was curled up on his side with his gun clutched to his chest with one hand while the other was up and covering his head.

He didn't look too worse for wear but Krieg still knelt to look him over 

"It's a bad, bad flesh rip that leaves you screaming." Krieg muttered as hauled Vaughn up.

Vaughn looked dazed for a moment as he clung to Krieg's arm and tried to reorient himself. Krieg watched him carefully and ignored the lamentations that he didn't carry anything to actually help with him.

"I-I think I'm okay? I-" Vaughn coughed a few times but remained upright. "Just knocked the wind out of me but I'm fine. Man, sand worms are way heavier than I thought."

Krieg relaxed a little when Vaughn was right back to his nervous chatter.

" _It looked worse than it was but he took care of it. Colour me impressed."_

Krieg rumbled lowly once he was satisfied that Vaughn's lungs hadn't been crushed.

"Well, guess I'm reinitiated since I survived a sand worm attack! Again!" Vaughns hands were shaking as he adjusted his Spex which were bent worse than before and barely managed to sit on his face.

"Little man, big blood." Krieg said lowly and Vaughn flushed while rubbing the back of his neck. He was smiling.

"Aw, it's totally nothing. I think that was a juvenile anyway. We should keep going though. It's less wormy in Helios. Hopefully."

Krieg nodded and took his place leading the two, this time glancing back occasionally at Vaughn who was keeping much closer now.

The trip was uneventful apart from Vaughn's comments about the massive vines that were twisted into the cavern.

"It's kinda weird being back in here when it's all, vine-y. You get used to the desert and a mostly carnivorous diet and suddenly there's green! Way weird. Could use the fibre buuut I get the impression these greens'll kill someone. Again."

Krieg agreed but focused on scanning the area for movement. The journey had given way from natural structures to the sleek metal of Helios and he clenched his teeth.

Even if he wasn't aware that was where they were, it was unmistakable. Snippets of memories of being dragged down halls that were now overgrown with vines played in Krieg's mind and he felt his heart begin to pick up.

 _"Even after crashing into a goddamn planet, this hellhole didn't have the good sense to completely collapse."_ Krieg slowed their pace when they stepped into the bloodied former home of Vaughn's ex-clan.

"God, this is…" 

Vaughn took a tentative step forward, looking from the bodies of mutated plant men, to Hector's forces, to the empty shacks they were scattered around.

"We spent so long building this place and now theres just, stupid freakin' vines all over!" Vaughn wandered off to a nearby shack which was mostly untouched and poked his head in the door.

Krieg was frozen where he stood, the sound of his own shaky breaths in his mask sounding far louder than they should and drowning out Vaughn's assessment of the damage.

Helios was still intact enough to manage a compound like this. He wasn't sure what part of the station they were in but it clearly ran further in and thoughts of his cell being perfectly preserved and waiting for him took hold.

_"We don't have to see it, we won't see it. I won't let you take us back there, I won't let him-"_

"Hey, is everything okay?"

The torrent of increasingly harried and jumbled thoughts stopped and Krieg snapped to look at Vaughn who was watching him. There was concern there but he wasn't backing away.

"The walls, there's blood in the paint but I can't get it out! I don't want to choke it down, I want to-"

"Hey, hey, hey, it's all good!" Vaughn raised his hands in a placating manner and moved to place a hand on Krieg's arm. "This place is a nightmare."

Krieg resisted the urge to lash out at Vaughn when he felt his hand on him. There was never anything good about people willingly coming near him when he was worked up the last time he was here.

"It's messed up that I ever worked here before it was some junk in the sand but it feels way more messed up to come back, you know? I guess you'd know better than I would, I ate kale up here. I mean practically speaking since the moonshot still works it's the best bandit headquarters around but-" Vaughn pursed his lips and let his arms fall back to his side.

"I dunno, it's just messed up. All the stuff we knew Hyperion had done but just ignored because they gave us dental? Ugh. At least Rhys gave this place what it deserved." 

Krieg remained still as Vaughn spoke but the jumbled thoughts and angry memories weren't as loud.

Vaughn sighed, his own trip into his memories of Helios trailing off.

"There's not much in here that wasn't all vined up, thanks Hector, but if it's too much, we don't have to go any further. Like I said out there, it's up to you."

Krieg considered the proposition.

 _"We might run into that place again."_ Was the advocation for returning to the Backburner right away. Delving further to think about what that would entail was quickly forgotten. _"Jack's dead though and this place is a scrapheap. Vaughn needs to see what can be done here and we'd have to come back eventually if we stay."_ Was the opposing thought and after a moment of one-sided outward back and forth, Krieg begrudgingly agreed.

"We rip out it's guts and feast!"

Vaughn snorted but nodded anyway.

"I'll take that as a sign you're set to keep going then. I'll lead the way and I'm gonna put you on taking out any hacked loaderbot or plant guy duty. Don't let me die or you're outta the Vaughnguard forever and I'll haunt you like a vengeful bandit ghost." Vaughn said and turned on his heel with his gun raised.

Krieg opted to take hold of his buzz axe, it's weight a comfort in his hands and he followed behind Vaughn.

"I guess after we actually recruit some guys we can come back here and do something about these stupid vines but we need a better recruitment plan first." Vaughn explained. The path he led them down remained unfamiliar to Krieg. "Which is why we're gonna find a computer that's not completely trashed, get it to Ellie to fix, and do things the old fashioned corporate way. Some people down here gotta open emails about joining the fastest growing and best new clan on Pandora, right? Smart but like still totally badass people shopping around for a clan?"

Krieg raised a brow at the plan.

" _He's been down here how long and he thinks that's not completely idiotic?"_

Krieg chuckled.

"Oh, in here!" Vaughn chirped and scampered ahead to a pair of sliding doors that were partially opened. He huffed upon seeing it was too narrow even for him and set his gun down to grab one panel and pulled. A blanket of dust was dislodged but the panel didn't move. Krieg stepped forward to help but a loud creak echoed down the hall and the door panel actually began to slide. A few grunts later and there was space enough for himself to scamper through and for Krieg to squeeze in after.

" _He really doesn't look like much and yet…"_

Krieg followed behind after grabbing Vaughn's shotgun and looked around the room for signs they weren't alone until he heard the clatter of stuff being tossed around.

"Quick, give me a hand." Vaughn instructed. He was crouched near a pile of debris that upon closer inspection looked like a desk, and was grunting as he managed to haul up one side of it.

" _Seriously, he looks like a starved and dehydrated bullymong but I guess those muscles aren't just from emaciation."_

Krieg grumbled at the large word he didn't care to learn and set his axe down within reaching distance and lifted the other side of the desk.

There was a loud creak and something scampered off at their removal of it's home but the pair managed to move what was left of the desk up and off to the side.

"Ha, yes!" Vaughn cheered and stooped to pick up something that didn't appear to be much. Krieg tilted his head.

"This, my friend, is one of the finer computers on the market and we just got one for free. Cost Hyperion a pretty penny too, even before we had to move some decimals around. Don't get me wrong, living on Pandora's awesome and all– don't gotta wear shoes if you don't want to– but sometimes I really miss sweet tech like this."

Krieg smiled a little at the genuine joy from Vaughn. It was better than remembering where they were.

"It's a little banged up but I think it's still good to go! We just jury rig something back at camp and we might even get it connected to the ECHOnet! I could watch kitten videos on company property for hours and no one could stop me." Vaughn laughed, the sound a little manic but nothing off-putting to Krieg. Mostly.

" _Corporate guys like this got problems, huh? Not that we can talk…"_ Krieg's brow furrowed at the implication but he said nothing 

"Well, I got what I needed. We can get out of here now." Vaughn said.

Krieg nodded and picked his axe back up. There wasn't any inclination to keep exploring as Vaughn held the slim machine to his chest with one arm and held his shotgun up with the other. It was a surprising feat of strength given how cumbersome both items were and Krieg could appreciate the wiry strength the smaller man had.

He ran his eye over Vaughn's form and took note of how despite his background, he was rather fit. Again, it was a surprise but not an unpleasant one. It spoke of capability and dredged up ideas Krieg couldn't catch but left him antsy.

\---

They arrived back at camp in one piece which was a small victory given Vaughn remembered to mention they should've parked their runner out of sight in case any of the other local bandits got brave after they were climbing back into their seats.

"Hey, Ellie! You know anything about computers?" Vaughn called over as he headed in the mechanic's direction.

Krieg could already feel the beginnings of a migraine building just imagining what kind of nonsense the two would start talking about if he followed, so he wandered off instead.

There was only Salvador and Axton at Moxxi's now with an impressive amount of beer bottles on the bar between them.

"Heyyy, Krieg! Maya, she's-" Axton swallowed another mouthful of his latest round as he swiveled his chair to greet Krieg when he took a seat beside him. "She said she's gonna start lookin' for a ride outta here. Pandora though, not here-here. Catch-A-Ride's just over there, why would she need a ride…" Axton's voice trailed off as he lost his train of thought.

"She's gonna send us all a message, don't worry!" Salvador picked up where Axton went quiet. He didn't sound even half as drunk as the commando did. Experience pointed to the possibility that he wasn't and yet Axton tried anyway.

"You and your little friend," Salvador leaned on the bar and waggled his eyebrows exaggeratedly while trying to wink but only succeeding in looking like he couldn't blink right. "you guys took a while. I'm not sayin' nothing but-"

"You're saying way more than nothing, you're talking so much right now. What's that even mean, 'saying nothing'..." Axton interrupted which prompted Salvador to fire back until they were bickering and Krieg was forgotten.

Krieg was grateful that he didn't have to endure another round of questioning. When he'd showed up with Maya and shown a clear preference for her company way back, things had gone similarly.

Maya had been quick to shut down any implications that things were a little more involved than they were. She'd expressed gratitude for Krieg protecting her and she'd voiced a sense of something like kinship at what he'd endured. It was never anything like what Salvador had implied with salacious grins and nudges.

This time though, he wasn't quite so sure. None of him was, really.

_"We can't. Whatever you think, whatever he thinks is going on, we can't."_

Krieg slipped away from Moxxi's back to where the debris he'd helped Vaughn fire at. Whatever was built up in him now, fear, anger, something like contentment, bloodlust- he had to get rid of it.

He unstrapped his rifle and took aim. The red markered face of the Handsome Jack poster was lined up and he fired. He kept firing until it was a bullet riddled mess and he fired again until there was nothing recognizable as a poster left.

"Hey."

Krieg's shoulders lowered and he glanced at Vaughn who was standing beside him.

"I just uh, I wanted to say thanks. For everything. You could've just left but you didn't. I'm not talking about Helios either I mean like in general." Vaughn sighed and scratched his head "I dunno how we're gonna do this but I'm glad you're here to help."

Krieg let himself smile this time and his stomach flipped. It wasn't anything cold or blue, it was warm and bright. His urge to head out and find something to kill was overshadowed if only for the briefest moment by a shred of joy.

He'd managed to not only dismantle Vaughn's distrust of him but he was thankful he was around.

_"It's progress."_

Krieg dropped his rifle and scooped the other man up off the ground in a hug.

"Love you…" He murmured, the tone more menacing than anything remotely pleasant when paired with his arms tightening the hug. 

"The ribs, the ribs-!" Vaughn gasped and he was promptly put down.

"Th-thanks, big guy. Don't worry about it." Vaughn wheezed.

 _"If you want this, if we want this, you have got to stop hurting him."_ Krieg growled and his hands curled into fists.

"What do you know, you're a prince of lies! Off with your head!" Krieg shouted.

"Hey, just relax!" 

Vaughn's voice cut the argument short. It was quickly becoming a trend and Krieg couldn't decide if he liked the situation being defused by someone else.

"Look, Ellie gave us a list." Vaughn reached into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper and held it up. "We gotta find some parts in the junk around here and we'll be set."

" _Back to Helios so soon?"_ Krieg visibly tensed at the thought.

"But," Vaughn rested his hand on Krieg's arm again. Another growing trend, this one of casual touches Krieg liked but still didn't quite understand. "It's nothing we need to dig into like R&D for or anything. Pretty sure we were using half the stuff on the list as betting fodder last week. What do you say, you want to come help me look?"

Krieg nodded and when Vaughn smiled up at him, he smiled back.

**Author's Note:**

> the-zanara.tumblr.com 
> 
> come hang out


End file.
